Circulation

Q.For several years, my husband and I have been taking enteric- coated aspirin. We understand that these dissolve in the intestines rather than the stomach, thus avoiding the danger of ulcers. Is this a misconception? Is there some other reason why enteric-coated aspirin is not more frequently recommended by professionals?A.Enteric coatings do keep aspirin from dissolving in the stomach. This reduces irritation caused by the aspirin tablet itself. But once aspirin is circulating in the bloodstream, it can have an indirect effect on the stomach.

With millions of people logging onto the Internet daily, some libraries are reporting a decline in nonfiction circulation -- and stretching to adjust to new trends in information-gathering as patrons opt for instant cyber facts."

The Baltimore Sun Co. yesterday announced the appointment of Scott H. Frantzen as vice president of circulation, a position in which he will be responsible for leading The Sun's circulation growth."

Yet another women's magazine has hit newsstands, but this one promises never to write about "50 ways to transform your wardrobe with scarves" or ways to get a "tighter tush in 10 days."It's Women Outside, "the magazine for 51 percent of the world's most active people."Stories in the premiere issue (on sale until December) include: "the best gear to fit a female body," "10 adventures you've got to have in this lifetime" and "one-on-one with the masters of buff -- private lessons from America's top athletes."

The Baltimore Sun Co. named Guy L. Gilmore vice president of circulation yesterday.Gilmore had been circulation director at the Portland Oregonian since 1996. In that time, the newspaper had back-to-back years of circulation growth. Gilmore also launched an incentive program for home delivery agents and improved customer service.Gilmore will be responsible for leading The Sun's effort to increase circulation and maintain the highest quality customer service.Before working at the Oregonian, Gilmore headed circulation at the morning Tennessean and the afternoon Nashville Banner.

For Larry Riggles, collecting miniature soldiers is no longer a childhood pastime turned into an adult hobby.It's a business venture.Riggles, a 47-year-old resident of Libertytown in Frederick County, is publisher and editor of Toy Soldiers and Collectibles, a magazine dedicated to -- what else? -- collecting plastic toy soldiers.The quarterly -- in its third issue -- features stories about toy figurines. The most recent edition, for example, spotlights the Marx Wagon Train Playset, a re-creation of figures from the westward migration.

Williams & Wilkins Periodical Publishing, the medical publishing division of Waverly Inc., said yesterday that it is in negotiations with the American Heart Association to publish its five scientific journals.If the deal goes through as expected, it would be the largest in the Baltimore company's history, said Edward B. Hutton Jr., president and chief executive officer of Waverly Inc."This is a significant piece of business," said Hutton.He declined to disclose financial terms of the developing deal, but estimated revenue from it could approach more than 5 percent of company sales.

BIG BUSINESS and industry were donating huge sums to hand-picked candidates. The voters were assailed by a never-ending drumfire of propaganda. Candidates were being packaged and marketed like new products.Part of the preliminaries of the current presidential campaign? Hardly. These were all part of the presidential campaign of 1896, a full century ago, exactly a century agoin which William McKinley, the Republican, soundly defeated William Jennings Bryan in the election that introduced modern campaign techniques to American politics.

The six-week-old Baltimore News, the newspaper financed by several notable politicians, is off to a rocky start.Mark J. Adams, a disbarred lawyer who was its sole editor, was fired last month and has sued the paper and its publisher, former City Council President Walter S. Orlinsky, seeking back pay and alleging defamation.In his suit, Mr. Adams paints a portrait of a fledgling newspaper in disarray and blames Mr. Orlinsky.The newspaper, distributed to 20 city neighborhoods, is backed by several investors, including former Mayor and Gov. William Donald Schaefer and former City Council President Mary Pat Clarke.

NEW YORK -- Tuesday night at Astor Place and out of the roiling, end-of-the-workday crowd a young woman snatches the latest copy of the Village Voice from a pallet dropped off in front of the local Starbucks.The hand belongs to Deanna Leiphart, a slightly harried, 30-year-old blonde, once of Baltimore but now desperately seeking a New York apartment."They have the best list of apartments," she says of the Voice.Everybody knows that. You want night life, you want to know where the bands are playing, you want to find a cubbyhole to call your own, you turn to the Voice.

Just as circulation has hit a record high, Anne Arundel County's public libraries are seeing shorter hours, smaller staffs and fewer programs because of budget cuts caused by the recession. Recently released circulation figures show a nearly 4.8 percent increase in the fiscal 2009 year over 2008 in books and materials checked out by patrons. In fiscal 2009, which ended June 30, circulation hit nearly 5.7 million. But the sour economy led to cuts throughout the county's budget. Effective July 1, the library system's budget took an 11 percent hit. In July, the nine smaller branches ended Monday morning hours.

The Baltimore Sun's average daily circulation for the six months ended March 31 fell 9.6 percent, compared with a year earlier, as declines in newspaper sales continued for most of the nation's biggest publishers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations said Monday. Average daily newspaper circulation declined 7.1 percent among 395 U.S. dailies. Sunday circulation fell an average 5.4 percent at 557 U.S. newspapers, the ABC said. Paid circulation declined to 210,098 at The Baltimore Sun. Sunday circulation fell 5.8 percent, to 351,243, ABC reported.

The Baltimore Sun's daily circulation fell 5.9 percent during the six months that ended Sept. 30, reflecting a trend among the nation's major metropolitan newspapers, even as the paper's Web site saw substantial gains in its readership. Daily print circulation in the industry declined an average 4.6 percent, with Sunday circulation down 4.8 percent, the Audit Bureau of Circulations said. All of the nation's top 25 newspapers reported average daily circulation drops, except for USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

The Sun's daily circulation rose slightly during the six months that ended March 31, bucking a trend of continued falling circulation at most major metropolitan newspapers, according to industry numbers released yesterday. It was the first daily circulation gain in 41/2 years for The Sun. The newspaper's paid daily circulation for Monday through Friday averaged 232,360, up from 232,138, a 0.1 percent gain, The Audit Bureau of Circulations reported. That was in contrast to an industrywide decline of about 3.5 percent, according to an analysis of the ABC's numbers by trade journal Editor & Publisher.

The Sun's daily circulation showed signs of stabilizing in the six months ending Sept. 30, with home delivery - the largest component of the printed newspaper's sales - rising slightly, according to numbers released yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Combined readership of The Sun's print edition and its Web site, baltimoresun.com, reached 1.2 million adults on average - or 58 percent of the market. This is the first time the ABC has released total-audience numbers, which newspapers argue is now a more accurate measurement of readership.

Two Hagerstown daily newspapers announced plans over the weekend to merge into one amid ever-declining interest in afternoon editions. The afternoon Daily Mail, which first went to press July 4, 1828, will cease publication Sept. 28 and merge with its sister paper founded in 1862, The Morning Herald. Both publications are owned by Schurz Communications Inc. of South Bend, Ind., and they already share many resources, including advertising and news staff. The combined paper, which is to make its debut Oct. 1 and publish in the morning, will be called The Herald-Mail.

Circulation at the nation's major metropolitan newspapers continued to drop in the six months ending March 31 as consumers increasingly turned to the Internet and other electronic media for news, according to industry figures released yesterday. Average daily circulation at 745 newspapers dropped 2.1 percent compared with the corresponding period last year, according to a report released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations and analyzed by the Newspaper Association of America. Average Sunday circulation at 601 newspapers slipped 3.1 percent.

Saying he cannot get The Examiner to stop throwing unwanted papers in his driveway each morning, a Baltimore lawyer has asked the Baltimore County Circuit Court for a temporary restraining order to force an end to the deliveries. "They're trespassing, technically," said Joel L. Levin, referring to the carriers who deliver the papers in his Pikesville neighborhood. Almost a month ago, he said, he began calling the paper's circulation department to have them stopped, but they keep coming.

Circulation figures at most major urban newspapers, including The Sun, continued falling over the past year, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released yesterday that showed a print media industry beset by competition from the Internet and new forms of technology. Daily circulation dropped an average 2.8 percent at the 770 newspapers that reported numbers for the six-month period that ended on Sept. 30 compared with the corresponding period last year. Circulation at 619 Sunday papers was down 3.4 percent.

Most major daily newspapers continued to lose circulation in the six-month period ending March 31, though readership of some papers is increasing because of their growing online audiences, according to industry reports released yesterday. Average daily circulation at 770 of the nation's newspapers fell 2.6 percent for the six-month period ending March 31, about the same percentage as for the last reporting period in November, according to a report released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations and analyzed by the Newspaper Association of America.